Stoffa: Northampton may face tax hike

County executive says "there will be' one, but then backs down.

Northampton County property owners may face a tax increase next year, County Executive John Stoffa said Wednesday.

"There will be a tax increase," Stoffa told County Council's Finance and Personnel committees.

He later backed off that statement, saying there "probably" would be a tax hike, and then telling reporters after the meeting there would be an increase only if council wants to budget money to preserve open space.

"If they want open space, my recommendation would be that we raise taxes," Stoffa said after the meeting.

He would not specify how much of an increase, only saying "not much."

During his campaign last year, he suggested raising taxes by 0.5 mills to pay for open space, such as building parks and preserving farmland and natural areas.

Four years ago, voters overwhelmingly told county officials they wanted to preserve open space by approving a $37 million bond issue the county has yet to fully fund.

Stoffa told reporters that a tax increase would "probably not" be needed if council opted not to budget money for open space.

The county tax rate is currently 10.3 mills, costing property owners $515 for every $50,000 of assessed value.

The last tax increases came in 2003 and 2004 at a combined 63.5 percent.

Stoffa's comment about a pending tax increase came during a debate with Councilman Ron Angle over financial matters.

Angle was upset with a proposal by Stoffa's administration to buy 112 acres of natural area in Upper Mount Bethel Township for about $721,000, using money that had been set aside to replace windows in the old courthouse.

Angle, who has been predicting a tax increase for several months, accused Stoffa's administrators of playing budget games and avoiding a tax increase next year by moving money around within the budget.

That's when Stoffa said, "There will be a tax increase."

Angle said Stoffa could avoid such an increase by better managing county finances.

He said, for example, Stoffa should not be brokering an agreement to allow Bethlehem to keep $1 million of the $2 million in county bond money that was left over when Bethlehem built Commerce Center Boulevard into the former Bethlehem Steel land as part of its redevelopment.

Bethlehem has asked to keep the entire $2 million to build more access roads. Council has been debating the request.

Stoffa said recouping $1 million is better than losing $2 million.

Also at Wednesday's council meeting, Stoffa said he is pursuing the $10 million purchase of a building to house the county's Human Services Department and archives.

He did not offer many details other than to say the building is a few miles from the courthouse.

Stoffa said he intended to pay for the building by selling the Governor Wolf building in Easton and the Bechtel building in Bethlehem and using money in the archives account from document-filing fees.